


full bloom

by Dresupi



Series: Would You Like to See Something Strange?  (Halloween Prompts) [22]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Fusion, Marauders' Era, Panic, Pod Person Petunia, pod people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 19:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12489680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: Lily is worried because Petunia's acting strangely. In that, she'snotbeing terrible.But for Petunia, that's very strange indeed.Day 22 of my Halloween Prompts: Invasion of the Body Snatchers AU/Fusion.





	full bloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amidtheflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidtheflowers/gifts).



> October 22- Invasion of the Body Snatchers AU/Fusion.
> 
> This is unbetaed and un-britpicked and also very late. :(

Lily was just folding up a sweater, tucking it down into her trunk and wishing that she had a magical parent who could come along and make everything small for her, when she heard something at her door.  

Turning, Lily took in the sight of her older sister.  She was just standing there, staring blankly into the room.  

Lily frowned. “Petunia?”  Her sister hadn’t voluntarily sought out her company in years.  

“Hello, Lily.”  

“Is something wrong?” she asked, peering at her sister from across the room.  Something felt odd.  Chillingly odd.  

“Not at all,” Petunia replied, her gaze a little vacant as she looked at Lily.  “Packing up, are you?”  

Lily nodded.  “Yes…”  

“Leaving in the morning?” 

“Yes…”  She was leaving for her seventh year and final year of Hogwarts the next morning.  Her Head Girl and Prefect badges were attached to her robes. Her books were all in order.  Everything was packed and ready for the following day.  

The point was, Petunia  _ should _ know.  

“Jolly good…” her sister responded.  Lily would have almost thought she was being sarcastic, but there was none of the biting venom in her tone that was usually omnipresent.  

She decided to push it a bit further. “Are you sure everything’s...”  

“Yes,” Petunia insisted, turning immediately and leaving the room.  

Lily shivered slightly when she’d gone.  She felt an even more pervading sense of wrong after her sister had left the room.  Lily had been feeling it since early that morning, when she’d found Petunia in the garden, staring at a plot where she’d ripped up all her crocuses the day before.  

Lily quickly closed her trunk and locked it.  Peeking her head out of the door, she spotted Petunia at the end of the hall staring at a potted plant.  Lily crept out into the hall, turning the corner and tiptoeing down the stairs, skipping the squeaky step third from the bottom before sprinting to the kitchen to dial the phone.  

James’ family had installed a telephone over the summer so she and James could speak whenever they wanted.  Of course, she had to be the one to call because he couldn’t seem to figure the darn thing out.  

She dialed his number and waited.  

“HELLO, LILY?  IS THAT YOU???”  

Lily sighed, shaking her head and speaking clearly into the phone.  “Mr.  Potter?  You don’t have to yell, remember?  Can you-- can you put James on?”  

“OF COURSE, DEAR!”  

She pressed her lips together.  “Thank you!”  

James was much better about it.  Even though he’d also yelled for the first few calls before he’d believed her that she could hear him just as well without it.  “Hullo, Evans.”  

“Hi…” she trailed off, peering over her shoulder to make quite sure she was alone.  

“Everything alright?” The worry was evident in his voice.  “Lily?”  

“I’m fine… it’s just…  _ Petunia _ …”  

“Is she being wretched again? What did she say?  You can come over tonight if you’d like.  You could have stayed the whole summer, darling.”

“No… she’s not being wretched…”  

“Oh!”  He sounded surprised.  “Then what’s the problem?”  

“She’s  _ not _ being wretched,” she emphasized.  

She heard him exhale on the other end.  “I don’t understand, Evans.”  

“She’s not…  _ herself _ , James.  I don’t know what to call it.  She’s not Tuney. She’s someone else. It’s like there’s… something wearing her skin or something, I don’t know what else to say.  Something’s off and I’m frightened and I would like for you to come here  _ now _ .”  

“Stay calm, darling.  Wait a few ticks and we’ll be there.”  

“We?” she asked, but he was already gone.

There was a tumble upstairs in the study fireplace, where she assumed James, definitely Sirius,  and probably Remus, had just flooed.    

She hung up the phone and nearly jumped out of her skin when she ran into Petunia, who was directly behind her.  Lily yelped, clutching at her chest to stop her heart from leaping out of it.  She attempted to take a step back, but Petunia’s hand was gripping her other wrist like a vice.

“LILY?” James called from upstairs before practically falling down them to get to her.  

Petunia turned to face him, her arm physically shaking, such was the grip she had on Lily’s wrist.  “Oh, James is here.  Hello, James.”  

Lily, trying not to alarm anyone, gripped Petunia’s arm and dug her nails in.  

It was to no avail, her sister’s grip didn’t loosen.  She shot a worried look to James, who held out his own hand to shake Petunia’s.  “Hello there, Petunia.”  

Petunia seemed to think for a moment, but inevitably, she released Lily’s arm and shook James’ hand.  “It is very nice to see you again.”  

She promptly left the kitchen, walking out the side door and not bothering to close it behind her. 

“I see what you mean… she’s  _ not _ wretched is she?”  

“She’s not pleasant either!”  Lily replied, cradling her wrist.   

James reached for her, and she went immediately, pressing her face against his chest.  It was warm.  He smelled of a wood stove and too much of whatever cologne it was that he used.  She didn’t even feel the need to comment on how it smelled as if he’d bathed in it.  It smelled like  _ him _ and it was a comfort. Lily felt she could likely bury her face in his chest and pretend there was nothing else in the world. Her arms wrapped around his waist.  “I am  _ so _ glad you’re here…”  

“Are you alright, did she hurt you?”  James asked, reaching for her wrist to inspect it.

“No, it’s fine,” she assured him.  “I’m only frightened…”  

“ _ Only _ frightened…” he repeated, as if it there were no such thing as  _ only _ frightened.    

“Are your parents home, love?”  Sirius asked from behind the wall that was James’ chest, bursting her bubble and forcing her back into problem-solving mode.  

“No.  They’re on a mini-break until tomorrow morning.” Lily sighed. ”Mother couldn’t take mine and Petunia’s bickering, and her nerves are practically frazzled beyond repair with Petunia’s wedding plans…” She pressed her lips together.  “My sister’s been especially  _ Petunia-like _ all summer…”  

“Except for today,” Remus supplied.  

“Yes.  Except for today.”  

Sirius piped up, “Remus and I are going to have a look around.  _ James _ … maybe you should take Lily to yours and--”  

She frowned, shooting Sirius a disgusted look.  “Not bloody-likely, Black. Don’t mistake my foul mood for a wilt.”  

“I wasn’t mistaking anything, Lil.  I simply thought that since it  _ appears _ that Petunia is hyper-focused on you, it might be safer for you to go--”  

“She’s my  _ sister _ .  She’s not some... random intruder.  She might hate me with every fiber of her being, but she’s still my  _ sister _ .”  

“ _ Lily _ …” Sirius intoned.  “I am  _ sorry _ … I was only suggesting.”  

She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders.  “Thank you for your suggestion,” she replied.  

“Remus and I will take a look outside.  Maybe you and James could have a look in here?”  he suggested, this one was better received.

“Was there something she was doing yesterday that was out of the ordinary?” Remus asked, peering at one of the Evans family photos on the wall. 

Lily shook her head.  “She gardened all morning, stayed in her room all afternoon, went out with Vernon last night… I found her in the garden again  _ this _ morning, and she was acting like… like she is now.”  

“Perhaps we should call Vernon?”  James suggested.  

Lily made a face.  “Only as a last resort… you and I should go search her bedroom, those two could go out to the garden?”  

“That seems the best plan…it’s likely whatever happened, happened here, or either Vernon would have noticed or he’d be in the same way as she is,” Remus said.  “If we can rule out something happening here, we’ll go looking for Vernon.”  

* * *

 

James and Lily were standing in the middle of Petunia’s room, trying to notice  _ something _ out of the ordinary.  

Lily felt terrible that she couldn’t say one way or the other.  She hadn’t been invited into Petunia’s room in nearly six years.  

There were wedding magazines on her desk, pages dog eared for certain dresses, or centerpieces.  

Petunia wasn’t going to be inviting Lily to the wedding.  That was what their fight was about.  

Mum wanted Petunia to invite her, but Petunia simply wasn’t having it.  Vernon and James hadn’t exactly gotten off to a smashing start earlier in the summer, and Vernon wouldn’t have James  _ or _ Lily in attendance at the wedding.  

Dad tried to finagle a reception invite, but Lily’s sharp tongue had gotten that swept off the table in a hurry.  

She felt awful about it all, but Petunia hadn’t so much as nodded in her direction since Mum and Dad left for their mini-break.  Not until this morning, that is.  

She’d found her standing out in the garden, near a spot that Lily could have sworn had been bare the day before.  Except there were no ruined crocuses and no bare garden plot and so she’d  _ assumed _ Petunia had transplanted in something else.  Some sort of ivy or something.  

James was flipping through one of Petunia’s magazines when Sirius called them from outside.  

Tuney’s window was open and Lily crossed the room to have a look.  

“We found something, Lil! You’d better come down! It’s some kind of pod or something!”  

She’d no sooner than opened her mouth to tell James than she’d found his hand already in hers, squeezing.  “You’re sure you’re alright to do this, Evans?”  he asked.  “No one will judge you if you want to leave.”  

She shook her head.  “I’m…” she trailed off.  What was she?  “I’m not fine, but I want to be here.”  

He smiled, a small gesture, but combined with the weight of his hand in hers and the way he was looking at her, it was everything.  Lily led him out of the room and down to the backyard.  

* * *

 

“Oh Merlin…”  Lily’s voice was so, so quiet and James wanted nothing more than to take this all away. 

James himself wished he hadn’t seen either, but if he was wishing wishes, it was Lily he wanted to protect.  

Sirius and Remus had found something in the garden, under a pile of vines and ivy that Lily swore hadn’t been there when she’d been in the garden that morning.  

There was a pod or something… inside, was a faceless body.  Covered in those same vines/ivy and wearing what Lily had recognized as Petunia’s black date dress, the last thing she’d seen Petunia wearing before she’d started acting like a loony.  

Remus was pale, holding the shovel he’d used to hack open the pod.  His hands were shaking.  Sirius was babbling on and on about this and that and another thing, and Lily…  _ Lily _ was mumbling to herself, shaking her head and wrapping her arms around her middle.  

“We should owl someone…” James said suddenly, stepping closer to allow her to lean on him.  

“Owl who?” Remus asked.  “Dumbledore?”  

“Someone,” Lily agreed.  “The Ministry?”  

“Arthur works there… Muggle relations,”  Sirius said.  “We could owl him.”

“Muggle artifacts,” Lily corrected.  “He works in Muggle artifacts.  But he still could likely put us in contact with--”  

She was cut off by a sound.  An odd sound.  One that chilled James to his very core.  

It was deep, throaty.  Like a locust or that horrible thing Marlene’s boggart had turned into in Defense Against the Dark Arts the year before.  

He looked for the source, alarmed to find that it was one of Lily’s neighbors, standing beside his chain link fence and staring at them.  He had a hose in his hand, water gushing from the end as he pointed at the four of them, the deep, guttural cry emitting from his throat.  

James reached for her.  “Evans. Inside.”  

“Mr. Davies?” she asked, frowning as she peered at her neighbor.  

There were more of them, her neighbor from the rear, an older woman, also screeching… squawking… screaming at them…

“Evans.  INSIDE…”  James yanked on her hand and she went as he followed James and Sirius inside the house.  

They closed all the doors, locked them tight.  As they were securing the front windows, he saw Petunia outside, pointing directly at Lily with her mouth wide open.  He didn’t need to hear her to know what she sounded like.  

“We’re flooing, Lily,” he said, reaching for her again.  He didn’t want to force her to leave her home, but there was little they could do without help.  He supposed they could have cast a spell, sending the Ministry right to them, but he wasn’t sure how these squawkers would react, so he didn’t.  

They all had seemed to wordlessly agree, because no one had so much as pulled a wand out the entire time they’d been here.  

Lily didn’t protest.  She  _ did _ press her hand against the window, murmuring,  “Goodbye, Tuney…”  

She left after Remus, right before James, flooing to his parents living room and making it as far as the sofa before she burst into tears.  

James and Sirius followed in close succession, stumbling out onto the floor of his parents’ living room.  

His mother hurried into the room at the sound of Lily’s crying.  “Darling… what’s going on?” She gathered her into her arms, but directed the question at James. 

“We have to owl the ministry… something’s off with the Muggles,” James replied, his stomach tightening in knots as he thought about all that they’d seen.    

“Off?” she asked, frown lines deepening in her forehead.  

James took one look at his Lily, her face all red and worried and teary and he quickly knelt beside her on the floor, pulling her close even as his mother held her.  

“Very off,” she blurted, sniffling loudly.  “ _ So _ very off, Mrs. Potter…”  

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love, so maybe leave me some? <3 
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/), if that's your thing. <3


End file.
